Whitecaps end Midwest League first half with extra-inning loss to Lake County

COMSTOCK PARK -- Things had been going pretty well for the West Michigan Whitecaps heading into the Midwest League All-Star break.

West Michigan won 11 of its last 14 games and looked to go into its four-day midseason layoff with another strong outing in front of a large Father’s Day crowd Sunday at Fifth Third Ballpark.

But instead, the Whitecaps will go into the break with a bad taste in their mouth as they dropped a 10-5 loss in 13 innings to the struggling Lake County Captains in front of 6,925 fans.

West Michigan ends the first half of the season with a 32-37 record. Lake County, which had lost 10 straight games before Sunday, ends its first half at 28-41.

"We didn’t have a very productive day at the plate," West Michigan manager Ernie Young said. "We didn’t have a plan at the plate. We have a lot of young guys on this team, and sometimes that happens.

The lack offense hurt in the 11th and 12th inning when the Whitecaps left men stranded on third base.

CAPTAINS 10, WHITECAPS 5

Next game: 7:30 p.m. Friday at South Bend

Radio: WBBL-FM (107.3)

The most frustrating of the two innings was the 11th when right fielder Steven Moya led off the inning with a double, and advanced to third on a throwing error by the Lake County center fielder.

Moya was stranded after three weak infield ground-outs.

The Whitecaps were in position to win the game when catcher Rob Brantly led off the eighth inning with a triple and later scored on an error by the Captains’ shortstop to give West Michigan a 5-4 lead.

But Whitecaps closer Bruce Rondon blew his second save of the season, when he gave up a walk, threw a wild pitch, hit a batter and gave up a game-tying single in the top of the ninth inning before being relieved after getting just one out in the inning.

"When you don’t throw strikes, you won’t win," Young said of Rondon’s outing. "These same things happen in the big leagues, so you just have to shake it off and move on."

West Michigan starter Brian Flynn, making his first professional start, went 4 1/3 innings. He gave up three runs, walked one and struck out four.

Flynn, who was was drafted by the Detroit Tigers earlier this month out of Wichita State, was relived by former Shockers teammate Logan Hoch, who threw 2 2/3 innings without giving up a hit and striking out five.

"I felt great out there," said Flynn, a 6-foot-8, 238-pound left-hander. "I did tired pretty quick after the third inning (when Lake County scored all its runs off him) because the last time I pitched was a week and a half ago. But I don’t want to make any excuses, I made some mistakes and they hurt when you do that at this level. I just want to learn from this, build off it and can’t wait to get back out there."

Young liked what he saw from his new starter.

"I thought he did all right," Young said. "I’m sure he had the jitters, but I thought he competed well and he threw strikes."

At the plate, Brantly went 2-for-4 with three runs scored, while third baseman Nick Castellanos went three of six with three RBIs.

Patrick Cooper suffered the loss for the Whitecaps, giving up the five 13-inning runs on five hits and an error. ﻿